What Are Friends For?
by mathgeekgirl
Summary: Canon divergent - Gabriel appears to have some more fun at Sam's expense, but things aren't always as they seem. It turns out Gabriel can be nice when he wants to be. *This story is complete for now. I may change some things later/add more if people request it.*
1. Chapter 1

"Guess who!" a voice sang behind Sam as a pair of sticky, and somewhat soft, hands covered his eyes. Sam was hunched at a little faux-wood desk with an interesting wobble in the corner of yet another budget motel room. The walls, which had once been white, were now a dingy yellow color from years of cigarette smoke. The ceiling sported some interesting mold patterns that vaguely resembled Rorschach blots, but at least the beds seemed clean-more than could be said for some of the places they'd stayed over the years.

"Gabriel, I do not have time for this," Sam said in exasperation as he tried to remove the Trickster/archangel/Norse god's hands from his face. "I'm in the middle of a case, and Dean certainly isn't going to research this harpy himself."

"First of all, Sammich, you work too hard. Second, it's not a harpy, and third, how did you know it was me?" Gabriel playfully asked as a he removed his hands from Sam's eyes, stuck yet another sucker in his mouth and collapsed into the chair next to Sam. Sam huffed in annoyance. The little shit was going to get candy residue all over his books and computer at this rate. Sam had been researching harpies all morning and was more than a little irritated that his assumptions had been incorrect. But really, gale force winds that appeared out of nowhere? What else was it supposed to be?

"The only person dumb enough to sneak up on me other than Dean is you, and your hands are all sticky. Have you heard of hand soap?" Sam's bitch-face was reaching epic proportions, much to Gabriel's delight. "And what do you mean it's not a harpy? What else could it be?"

"I'll make you a deal, Samsquatch. I tell you...and you go on an adventure with me!" Gabriel said, mischief gleaming in his golden eyes.

"Oh, yes, I'm going to trust the Trickster who killed Dean repeatedly for months to take me on an adventure," Sam deadpanned as he turned back to his research. Assuming Gabriel wasn't lying, and that was a big assumption, Sam had a lot of research to do. It was back to the drawing board to find a supernatural creature that could generate a veritable hurricane from thin air.

"You wound me, Sammy." Gabriel dramatically fainted across the motel room bed, his hand raised to his forehead. Sam just rolled his eyes and went back to his research with a muttered "don't call me Sammy". After several minutes of being ignored, Gabriel sat up on the bed. "It's a tengu. Can I have some fun now?"

"Thank you. You are more than welcome to leave and find fun elsewhere," Sam replied. A tengu-that made a lot of sense, actually. Still ignoring Gabriel, he began a new internet search to learn more about the tengu.

"You leave me no choice, Samoose," Gabriel sang as he snapped his fingers.


	2. Chapter 2

"Goddammit, Gabriel! What did you do to me?!" Sam shouted as he stumbled to regain his footing. Being flown who-knows-where was screwing with his equilibrium. The angel express was his least favorite mode of travel; flying anywhere with Cas was always a danger to the digestive system.

"Shhhh...lower your voice, Sammy. You're scaring the normal people." Gabriel put his finger to his lips to hush Sam. Looking around, Sam realized that Gabriel had zapped him to the middle of what appeared to be an Italian restaurant and that all of the people in the vicinity were staring at them.

"Where are we?" Sam hissed angrily. This was not his idea of a 'fun adventure'. Why on earth had Gabriel brought him to a restaurant of all places? He would have expected the planet Mars or at least a carnival from the Trickster.

"Just wait," Gabriel winked before disappearing with a snap.

 _Shit...shit...shit_ , Sam thought to himself. Gabriel could have zapped him anywhere, and he was practically unarmed. He should have listened to Dean and kept at least the pistol on his person. For all Sam knew, he might even be in Italy, but he didn't think so. The menus were in English, for one, and most of the people seemed to be speaking English. That left most of Europe and the U.S.

"Sam? Did you go to the bathroom already? That was fast," a female voice said behind him. Sam's heart sank. He knew that voice. There was no way...she was dead. He'd watched her burn...

"Jess?" Sam turned on his heel, certain that he was imagining things. Before him sat Jessica Moore and two small blond children. A little boy with short wavy hair sat in a booster seat, coloring on his placemat. The little girl, a bit older than her brother, had darker blonde ringlets and bright hazel eyes and was staring at Sam intently.

"What's wrong, honey? The food should be here soon," said Jess, her blue eyes filled with concern. Jess looked good, Sam realized, really good. Her curly blonde hair was pulled back in a pony tail, and he could see the faintest traces of makeup on her eyes and cheeks. A dark blue sleeveless dress showed off her figure with a modest v-neckline and knee length skirt. Sam sucked in a sharp breath when he realized that Jess was wearing a wedding ring in addition to the necklace he had given her for their first anniversary.

"Uh...nothing. Nothing's wrong," Sam replied eloquently. He stumbled slightly as he sat in the empty seat at the table, eyes still fixed on Jess.

"Mommy, do you like my picture?" the little boy asked, holding up his placemat for Jessica to see. _Mommy...Mommy?!_ Sam thought to himself. _Jessica is his mother? Their mother? How is that possible? Who are they? What are they?_ Questions began swirling faster and faster through his mind as he tried to reconcile the family before him with his Jessica. Overwhelmed, Sam started to his feet, hoping that, by some miracle, he'd be able to find Gabriel and get out of what was quickly becoming a nightmare.

"What's the matter, Daddy?" was the last thing Sam heard, his heart pounding and blood rushing in his ears, before darkness overtook him and he slumped to the floor.


	3. Chapter 3

"Well, that wasn't quick the reaction I was hoping for," Gabriel said as he knelt over Sam.

"What happened?" Sam asked...or meant to ask. What came out was more like, "Whu haapp'n..." but Gabriel understood anyway. Sam tried to sit up but was carefully pushed back down by a firm hand.

"You passed out. It was quite impressive. All nine feet of you crashing to the ground? I think they felt it in Russia," Gabriel smirked around his Snickers bar. The archangel ate more candy than a toddler at Grandma's house and was a walking billboard for diabetes awareness. His face sobered, however. "What do you remember?"

"You mojo'd me to this...Italian restaurant? Jess was there and there were kids, our kids, I think...my head hurts," Sam muttered, rubbing his forehead. He glanced around and realized that he was still in the restaurant and everyone was frozen. Panic filled his chest. "What did you do, Gabriel?"

"Tsk..tsk..tsk..just a bit of fun." Gabriel shrugged nonchalantly.

"Gabriel!"

"Fine, fine. This is Jessica's heaven. Normally, a person's heaven is flash-backs of happy moments during their life. It seems the Boy-With-the-Demon-Blood may have had some influence on her, so she could create instead of just relive." Sam just stared, his mouth slightly open. "You have the day with them. I think the plan was the zoo, but you could probably talk her into the art museum."

"The zoo..."

"Yes, the zoo. Now, I have important things to do, people to trick and Castiel to annoy, so have fun and don't get into too much trouble. Of course, it's heaven so how much trouble could you get into? Don't answer that," said Gabriel quickly. "I'll be back before you know it."

With a snap he disappeared and everyone in the building resumed what they had been doing. Forks clanked against plates, waiters refilled water glasses and the man in the booth across from Sam finally finished his sneeze. Sam slowly got back to his feet. Jess' heaven was with Sam and their children, and Gabriel had given him the day with them. It turns out even Trickster/Archangels can be kind.


End file.
